Qanāt, (Arabic) also spelled kanat, Persian karez, Berber Arabic foggara, ancient type of water-supply system, developed and still used in arid regions of the world. A qanāt taps underground mountain water sources trapped in and beneath the upper reaches of alluvial fans and channels the water downhill through a series of gently sloping tunnels, often several kilometres long, to the places where it is needed for irrigation and domestic use. The development of qanāts probably began about 2,500 or 3,000 years ago in Iran, and the technology spread eastward to Afghanistan and westward to Egypt. Although new qanāts are seldom built today, many old qanāts are still used in Iran and Afghanistan, chiefly for irrigation.

A qanāt at the National Library of Iran, Tehran.

Zereshk

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...architecture. There are few cities in central and eastern Iran, where water is scarce, although lines of oases penetrate the desert. Most towns are supplied with water by qanāt, an irrigation system by which an underground mountain water source is tapped and the water channeled down through a series of tunnels, sometimes 50 miles (80 km) in length,...

River water is used in large parts of the country to irrigate agricultural areas. The Balochistan plateau has a remarkable indigenous method of irrigation called the qanāt (or kārīz) system, which consists of underground channels and galleries that collect subsoil water at the foot of hills and...

...of which are created artificially either by diverting water from streams or by importing water from mountains—often over some distance—via underground tunnels (qanāts). Dates are the main crop, grown as both a subsistence and a cash crop. Alfalfa, corn, wheat, barley, vegetables, and other crops are grown in the date-palm understory. Much...